Exam 14: Foundations of Organizational Structure

Aeronautics Inc., a parts supplier, has departments for government aircraft and contracts, large commercial aircraft clients, and small personal aircraft clients. This is an example of ________ departmentalization.

The organizational design of simple structure is highly risky.

You instruct the trainees to ask the client organization if they have clearly defined procedures covering most of the jobs in the organization and lots of rules and policies. You want to help them understand the ________.

Which of the following is not a strategy to reduce the negative impact of downsizing?

The more scarce, dynamic, and complex the environment, the more organic a structure should be.

The matrix structure breaks the unity-of-command concept.

A manufacturing manager organizes a plant into engineering, accounting, manufacturing, personnel, and supply specialists departments. This division of an organization into groups according to work functions is an example of ________.

Publishing representatives who call on college professors to inform them of their company's new publications have a great deal of freedom in their jobs. They have only a general sales pitch, which they tailor as needed. Based on this information, we can say that the job of these publishing representatives ________.

Samantha is the owner of a flower shop. She has five employees that all report directly to her and she makes all the decisions regarding the type and quantity of flowers and looks after the shop's finances. Which type of organizational structure does Samantha have?

You describe to your students a new committee within the university that brings together specialists from all different departments to develop a new interdisciplinary program. The structure of the committee best meets the definition of the ________.

Departmentalization refers to the degree to which jobs within the organization are standardized.

What are the three dimensions that characterize the environment of an organization?

You assign your students a project that involves developing a business plan for a retail chain. The retail chain will have 1000 employees and will serve customers both locally and internationally via a storefront and an Internet catalog. Which of the following organizational designs is least likely to be suitable for this retail store?

While observing the departments in his division, Matthew notices that some managers with wide spans of control seem to perform more effectively than other managers with similarly-sized spans of control. Which of the following statements is most likely to be true regarding the high-performing managers?

Which of the following statements is true about the simple structure?

In structural terms, the virtual organization is highly centralized, with little or no departmentalization.

Describe the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of a virtual organization.

The simple structure is characterized by a high degree of departmentalization and narrow span of control.

In centralized organizations, top managers make all the decisions, and lower-level managers merely carry out their directives.

________ refers to the degree to which jobs within the organization are standardized.